Headlight Restoration, Finishes, Process, Tools, and Discussion! Advice Welcome!

[DustinYoung]

Hey everyone, a couple weeks back i did the headlights on my Subaru WRX with a Meguiars Heavy Duty kit. The whole process worked and came out awesome (my Subaru is a 2012 so it wasn't that bad). I instantly did some research because i'd love to do something like this part time. Being an Engineer student its hard to fit a full time job and it would allow me to make appointments around my free time (my schedule is insane being a Junior getting ready for his senior year next fall). In this post i'm going to explain some free jobs i did to test my ideas, if and what went wrong, and some ideas i have.

So i went online and purchased a ton of things (all sorts of brands of sanding discs, really liked the Meguiars ones so i reordered some 1000 and 3000 of it, i don't know if i can list the other brands or any of them, so i'll be touch and go about what products i list).

I also picked up a Flex Rotary Polisher TE8 along with an Orange, Black, and White hex-logic pad from Chemical Guys, also went ahead and got some v32-v38 compounds and polish with some JetSeal to finish and seal my projects. All my tests were free and learning for me, as i wanted a portfolio of my work and some practice while my business logo was being made up.

Test One: Mini Cooper Pictures Located: ( Mini Cooper Before and After - Imgur ) (Oxidation on the top, terrible clear coat issues which i had never dealt with before or knew how to deal with).
Did the first round of everything starting at 1000 and working my way up, the lens had oxidation eat through parts of the clear and i couldn't get certain areas clear free with 1000 grit. Tried to just finish and seal to see what the results would be, turned out really bad, so i dug through my kit for some 600 grit (thank god i had it). Re-sanded (all by hand), eliminated the clear issues, and buffed/polished v32-v36 the lens. I used the TE8 at speed setting 4 and melted my pad or the light (wish just got re-sanded and leveled out perfectly anyways) but then switched to speed setting 2 1/2 which i think is another issue for me, i don't think its fast enough and i'm scared to add speed, would love advice here. They came out incredible in terms of the difference. Things i noticed though, factory clear is intense to get rid of by hand, took forever and i had to mask the car 3 times (used a bunch of watch and i guess i got crappy tape or something, was also masking off chrome and that could have caused it to slip). Also i jump from 1000-3000 and don't spend enough time on the 3000, to many scratches that were noticeable i believe, he was floored though with the results (this is something i just found out, and have yet to test but i know i need a 2000 or two more increments before finished the lens, also need to spend more time finishing. Overall good results but tons of room for improvement and was disappointed in a lot of aspects, tons of lessons i'm learning from now today.


Test Two: Mazda MX5 Pictures Located: ( Mazda MX5 Before and After - Album on Imgur ) (or whatever, i think thats correct). This is actually a crazy story but long story short after a while i got the vehicle and started the work. Same process as the mini but NO CLEAR COAT, the whole lens being oxidized made this project a lot easier. Still had no rotary confidence (this will remain constant throughout all these test so far) so i was at speed setting 2 1/2 which i think might be to slow. 600-800-1000-3000 (to big of jump 1k - 3k). Finish results were pretty insane, this is when the passion and fuel to do this REALLY started to burn, i wanted to bring the best of the best because i knew i could, and the work was incredibly enjoyable. The customer admitted they run their brights all the time when night driving because they couldn't see and so there was internal lens damage. Only issue i believe with this car. Had some scratches from sanding left over but the product was glass smooth. This really made me want to pursue a better sealant option (clear coat although i don't want to deal with orange peel unless i could schedule two appointments or get a pro gun and compressor to travel with, found some people who use clear and say they get no orange peel but i'm skeptical or spar or even some over the counter bought ones.) Customers were floored, wrote a nice little review on my Facebook page, and text me three days after raving about their night driving which was super cool.

Test Three: 2010 or 2011 GMC. Pictures Located: ( GMC Before/After - Album on Imgur ) Super awesome guy, but here we go with another clear coat issue. They haunted me at this point. I realized during this job that if the oxidation is only on a part of the lens really bad that it is missing clear coat here. The truck had been off roading and had some pretty big gashes in the lens that i really wanted to be able to fix. I minimized them, but didn't get much of it out like i had hoped. I started with 1000, did the whole lens, only the top because foggy, and i finished the lens with a buff and polish and seal. The results were good, but there was a huge murky line where the division of no clear coat to factory clear coat was. This really bugged me but i didn't want to strip the clear coat off these lenses. He picked it up and was super happy, we talked about how i left as much clear as i did, and he was satisfied with the results. I would have or should have just compounded, and buffed the lights. i think the results would have been the same, or just stripped it all off with 600 then 1000 then 2000 then 3000. Also really made me want to seriously find a sealant that would help filled scratches and also just provide a better finish. Customer was floored again and super happy though.

Test Four: 2003 Dodge Ram Pictures Located: ( Ram Before and After - Album on Imgur ) (i believe), yet more clear coat issues, i couldn't escape them at this point. I don't think this one was factory though, it was splattered and spotted like it had been spot sprayed and then the person bailed out after the results were so terrible. They were oxidized in weird shapes and areas were left with this insane clear coat stuff. Sanding in ridges was impossible and the clear just would not come off, like i intensely sanded with 600 grit and changed pads, but it wasn't enough. I got as much as i could off, with sunlight dwindling and finished the job with 1000 to 3000 (again this jump murders my end result, also at this point i wanted nothing more than to buy a machine sander to help with clear issues. Im debating picking up a DA 3' for my early grits then finishing by hand. Customer was very happy as he drives backroads in the truck and flipped his lights on to a much better amount of light coming through.

Test Five: My best friends MazdaSpeed 3. Pictures Located: ( MazdaSpeed 3 Before and After - Album on Imgur ) His has the same clear coat issues i had been running into now for a while. Top was oxidizing and the bottoms still had the factory clear coat all intact. I sanded with 400 (i was ready and prepared for it this time) and had a new strategy, if i was going to sand, i wasn't going to leave room for error. With an initial once over, the light was pretty much exactly like i though it was going to be, misted fog up at the top where there was no clear coat and i had removed the oxidation, and a clear lower half of the lens where the factory clear coat was still there. I removed it all with 400 and jumped to 600, then 1000 and finished it off with two passes of 3000 (not enough time spend in the final process, and literally way to big of a jump, i know i know, killer). The results were insane, but i again struggled with feeling like my rotary speed was way to ####### low, like there was to many remaining scratches, and the sealant wasn't amazing. The results truly are nuts though, but i know there is a next level with using some different products, upping a grit or two between my 1000-3000 jump, and getting someone to convince me to use a better speed setting on my polisher.

Future plans:
1.) Buy a DA sander (recommendations please)
2.) Use more grits, and finish everything by hand with proper time invested in my finishing pass.
3.) Test AS MANY sealants and clears that people will recommend.
4.) Potentially buy a clear coat gun and generator (probably never lol...)
5.) Discuss and plan future business and prices for services.

I have a set of test headlights i'm picking up today, i bought some Opti-lens (Would love to try some of these other ones that are sold in more of a bulk amount, let me know???) and "Headlight Clear Coat" from a company. I'm going to test some different grits, polishing speeds, and finishes on these lights before i move to doing my first customer. Thank you for reading, please let me know any feedback etc!

[timsatx]

Personally I think a rotary is the wrong tool for this, especially in the hands of someone not familiar with it. I think you would be much better served with a DA and then use sanding and polishing with that. Everything using 3 inch pads. But that's just me and I don't have much experience. I did my headlights and still need to redo them. They need a good sanding and I think I will try to take care of that next fall.

[Setec Astronomy]

In the Meguiar's process, which most of the products for are sold here, they go from 1000 to 3000 without a problem. I've followed that process but gone from 3000 to 5000 grit and then directly to polish. Opti-Lens is good, but best case it won't last more than 2-3 years for a car that lives outside, and I haven't gotten it to last that long yet, although last time I did 3 layers at the recommendation of some members here, vs. the 2 I had done previously.

Professional Headlight & Spot Repair Kit

[DustinYoung]

Yeah that might be a good idea, but i think i would run into the same problems. :/ Any advice on what DA to get?

[DustinYoung]

Yeah, but it seems like a large jump. I'm going to test 1k-2k-3k. Spending lots of time on the 3k and doing more complete passes with each grit. I was doing 1k-3k because its what i did on my car with awesome results, but i do see some marks and stuff i'd like to deal with.

[DustinYoung]

I think i am going to purchase a 3' DA though, just need some suggestions.

[Setec Astronomy]

I use the Griot's Garage 3" for sanding headlights. I usually use an old PC with a 4" pad for polishing.

[DustinYoung]

Could one or the other do both?

[hdez]

Get the Griots Garage 6 with 3" backing plate and 4" pads.

[umana2482]

I like Griots 3" for sanding.